During the month of August 2015, ITG’s US volumes yielded just 2.8 billion shares, falling -34.9% MoM from 4.3 billion

ITG (NYSE:ITG), an independent execution broker and research provider, has just released its US trading volumes for the month ending August 2015, having incurred a notable decrease relative to last month.

During the month ending August 2015, ITG’s US volumes yielded just 2.8 billion shares, falling -34.9% MoM from 4.3 billion shares in July 2015 – this corresponded to an average daily volume (ADV) of 134 million shares, down -32.0% MoM from 197 million shares in ADV in July 2015.

The substantial loss in trading volumes was made more apparent by the differential in trading days, i.e. 21 days in August 2015, vs. 22 in July 2015. Despite the incremental difference in trading sessions, ITG was unable to avert a broad-based weakness in volumes, which is easily its lowest performance this year.

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In addition, ITG’s average daily commissions in during August 2015 across its Canadian, European and Asia-Pacific (APAC) businesses were down a collective -35.0% QoQ when weighted against Q2 2015.

According to ITG’s interim CEO Jarrett Lilien in a recent statement on the lackluster metrics, “We are committed to all of our customers and thankful for the approximately 1000 clients who traded with ITG globally during the month of August. We are particularly grateful for the clients who continue to interact with us in the wake of the final SEC settlement announcement as well as those who have resumed trading with us in recent weeks.”

“We are dedicated to restoring the confidence of all of our clients and building on our nearly three decade history of delivering industry leading solutions and providing best execution,” he added.

The notable decline in volumes is tied to ITG’s recent brush with regulatory authorities, which has caused an outflow of existing business. Last month, ITG as well as its affiliate AlterNet Securities, agreed to collectively pay $20.3 million to settle charges over the breach of dark pool trading confidentiality with the US’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC stipulated that the broker operated a secret trading desk and misused the confidential trading information of dark pool subscribers. According to an SEC manifest at the time, the investigation found that ITG operated an undisclosed proprietary trading desk known as ‘Project Omega’ for a period of at least one year.